Bingwen
Bingwen was a young boy from a rice village in China. He was first introduced in Earth Afire. History Earth Afire Shortly before the First Formic War, Bingwen was sent a video of the Formics from his friend on Luna, Dr. Yanyu. A librarian caught Bingwen watching the video and told him to continue working on his schoolwork. Bingwen continued watching the video after the librarian left. Hopper, Bingwen's best friend, then came up and watched the video with him, however his cousin Meilin caught Hopper and Bingwen watching the video and told the two to work on studying for exams. Bingwen ignored his cousin and continued watching the video. At that point, other children began gathering around to watch the video.Earth Afire One of the students watching the video was Zihao, who questioned Bingwen over the validity of the video of aliens that Bingwen claimed was real. One of the main lines of questioning dealt with timing of the video. Bingwen knew the video was older than the upload date, but Zihao refused to believe that. Eventually, the conversation led to Bingwen pushing Zihao out of his chair. At that point, Zihao started to choke Bingwen as Ms. Yí arrived and broke up the fight. Bingwen quickly escorted his cousin, Meilin, outside of the library and took her home with Hopper meeting them along the way. After taking her home, Zihao and some of his friends began corralling Bingwen and Hopper in the rice patty fields. Hopper went ahead to find Bingwen's father while Bingwen confronted Zihao. During the confrontation, Bingwen was able to escape into the rice patties where he was found by Hopper and his father. Bingwen went home where he told his father about the alien video. His father felt Bingwen was disrespecting his elders by believing in the video and refuting their beliefs, and he left Bingwen while angry. Bingwen then talked to his grandfather, who believed that they should be ready whether or not the aliens were truly coming, but his grandfather also knew that preparation could make Bingwen's father angry, but they began planning anyways. Weeks later, the Formic Scout Ship arrived in space above China. Bingwen along with the other villagers went to the library late that night to watch the new feed, but Ms. Yí would not allow anyone into the library, so Bingwen and Hopper snuck into the library using roof access to find the materials for a projector. Bingwen took the materials out of the library and set up a projector for the news feed. Ms. Yí complained, but the villagers dismissed her as they watched Kenwe Zubeka greet the alien ship before being killed. Once the alien ship began firing, the villagers began to disperse quickly. Bingwen found his family and helped his grandfather return home. Bingwen, Hopper, and Meilin took his grandfather home, but he constantly asked for breaks and afterward would tell Bingwen not to allow him to take a break as his bones began to hurt. However, his grandfather would not listen to Bingwen or Hopper and followed his own will. During one of the breaks, Bingwen argued with Hopper about whether or not Hopper and Meilin should head on home. Hopper believed that Bingwen was jealous of the developing relationship between Meilin and himself and left Bingwen out of anger. Just as Bingwen was about to apologize to Hopper, a Formic lander launched from the scout ship began to plummet towards his village. Bingwen was able to take his grandfather into the rice fields as he watched Meilin and Hopper be crushed by the falling lander. After the lander made impact, Bingwen was trapped by a tree limb, breaking his arm, and his only source of help was his grandfather, who insisted on crawling to the village to find help. As the lander burrowed deeper beneath the earth, Bingwen became further entrapped in the ground. Luckily, his grandfather was able to gain the attention of Mazer Rackham, who had arrived to aid the locals with a stolen Chinese HERC. Mazer Rackham helped dig and propel Bingwen out of the ground, and he took Bingwen and his grandfather to a nearby barn, which was being used as a temporary hospital. A little later, Mazer Rackham returned to the barn with more villagers. One of the many villagers, Ping, received temporary leadership of anyone in the barn as Rackham's team looked for more villagers. As Rackham left to look for villagers, Bingwen asked what to do if Rackham did not return; however, Mazer was not sure and incapable of giving Bingwen a positive backup plan. Bingwen watched as Mazer's HERC crashed after the Formics attacked it. Bingwen then took the initiative to go save Mazer and any living members of his team, even though his grandfather protested, due to the Formic defoliants. Bingwen took supplies and a water buffalo with him to save Mazer. On his way to Mazer, Bingwen saw many dead bodies including Zihao. Bingwen eventually found Mazer alive and unconscious beside the HERC. He made a travois to carry Mazer on and a pulley system to set Mazer on the travois. Afterward, Bingwen headed back to the farm, but while he was looking for a safe path, Bingwen found his dead parents. Eventually, Bingwen headed back to the farm, where he opened the med-assist in order to save Mazer's life. Bingwen translated the English directions of the med-assist, while Mingzhu performed surgery on Mazer. Midway through the surgery Bingwen used the med-assist to contact Kim Arnsbrach, who along with a gastroenterologist helped to perform a shadow surgery on Mazer. Bingwen and his grandfather stayed in the barn as the other villagers left in order to protect Mazer, even though they took all the supplies. In order to survive, Bingwen and his grandfather gathered food off the dead and boiled rainwater to drink. Four days after the surgery Mazer woke up, so Bingwen and his grandfather began to explain their current situation to Mazer and told Mazer how he survived. After allowing Mazer to rest several days, Mazer began to ask to leave so he could attack the Formic lander. Bingwen convinced Mazer to travel north with him and his grandfather in order to protect them from the Formics. Unfortunately that night Bingwen's grandfather was killed by the Formics before Mazer suddenly woke Bingwen up to escape the barn. Before leaving the barn with Mazer, Bingwen gave his grandfather a proper burial by burning him with the farm instead of allowing him to be taken to the Formic biowaste mounds. Bingwen then traveled north with Mazer for several days. Eventually Mazer found a family that was willingly to take care of Bingwen during their travel north, so Mazer arranged for Bingwen to travel with them. Mazer ensured Bingwen memorized his contact information, so Mazer could later provide Bingwen with an education after the war was over. While traveling north with the family, Bingwen and the family were ambushed by the Formics, and Binwen was told by the father to run, so he ran south towards Mazer. Bingwen screamed for Mazer while running south for several hours before Mazer ever heard him. When Mazer heard him, the two met up and Mazer shared the resources he found off a dead pilot and comforted Bingwen before going to sleep. Bingwen and Mazer scouted the Formic lander, where they discovered that the Formics traveled through tunnels to get past their shield, which meant the shield did not extend below ground. Their scouting mission was cut short when a Formic troop carrier ambushed them, and Mazer told Bingwen to run. After running a short distance, Mazer simply picked Bingwen up and slid down the hill with him, but the Formics ambushed them again at the bottom, where Mazer was hit with an electric net causing Mazer to crush Bingwen. Seconds later the Mobile Operations Police arrived saving Bingwen and Mazer. Bingwen was carried to the MOP's Rhino by Calinga. Inside the Rhino Bingwen and Mazer recovered before Wit O'Toole introduced himself to Bingwen. Wit criticized Mazer for bringing Bingwen along in the Formic infested territory, but Bingwen defended Mazer. Bingwen went with Mazer and the MOPs to the Chinese base where they found a functional HERC and the three self-propelled drill sledges still functional. After preparing to attack the Formic lander, Mazer told Bingwen to do what the MOPs say before he left. Earth Awakens After Calinga successfully destroyed the Formic lander, Bingwen began to access one of the computers on the Chinese base to search for information about Mazer when he did not show back up. When Bingwen discovered that Mazer and Wit were imprisoned on General Sima's base, he called Deen and the other MOPs into the room to inform them. Deen and some of the others believed the best course of action was to try and retrieve Wit and Mazer. However, Bingwen wrote a general message congratulating General Sima on his plan to destroy the Formic lander. Deen and Bolshakov helped Bingwen translate the letter into correct English before sending it out to the world in order to try and get Mazer and Wit out of custody.Earth Awakens Bingwen and the remaining MOPs were contacted by Wit and told to be picked up by the Chinese. Lieutenant Li picked up the MOPs, but originally protested when he discovered that Bingwen was with the team as he was a boy. Lieutenant Li then took the MOPs to the Dragon's Den, where Bingwen was reunited for a short time with Mazer and Wit. Bingwen said his hellos to Mazer before Lieutenant Li ordered Private Hun to take Bingwen to the Claw barracks. In the barracks, Private Hun introduced Bingwen to Mama Goshi, who regretfully allowed Bingwen to stay in the Claw barracks. Mama Goshi then told Bingwen to sleep in a nearby row of cots. At the cots, Bingwen was greeted by a girl named Pipo, who quickly told Bingwen to go away. After talking with her for a second, Bingwen discovered that her brother Niro was ill and offered to help by using the Med-assist in exchange for a sleeping area. Pipo took Bingwen to a charging area to charge the assist before they went back to her brother. Bingwen promised not to hurt her brother, however, he had to take blood and push on his stomach in order to diagnose the illness. The med-assist told Bingwen that the problem was a ruptured appendix, so they contacted Mama Goshi, who helped them contact the doctors who came to take Niro to surgery. Mama Goshi then had Bingwen go around the Claw using the med-assist to diagnose different patients. Once patients started coming from the other three barracks, Bingwen realized he needed to find a more permanent solution, so he asked Mama Goshi to take him outside in order to contact Kim Arnsbrach. Bingwen told Kim about what happened and Mazer's condition. He asked Kim if she could set up some system of diagnosing patients using the nets, so Kim said she would contact some nonprofit organizations. Bingwen successfully set up a holopad diagnosis system using 6 holopads and a connection to the nets. Bingwen worked as an doctor's assistant as the various doctors diagnosed the patients. After diagnosing one patient, Pipo took him to the fourth station, where Kim had come to give Bingwen a message. Kim then introduced Bingwen to Imala Bootstamp and Victor Delgado, who claimed they had a way to destroy the Formic ship and wanted the help of the MOPs. Bingwen agreed to help them once they showed him video footage of the inside of the Formic ship. Imala and Victor then gave Bingwen their uplink codes, so Bingwen could gain access to the restricted area to find Mazer and Wit. Bingwen asked Pipo to act like his sister, so he could make his way into the restricted area. Bingwen picked out Colonel Chua and acted as if an Anglo soldier had been sneaking out each night to be with his fake sister named Ju-long. Pipo then showed up trying to take the map back from Bingwen that he was giving the soldier. Colonel Chua fell for Bingwen's trap and took Bingwen to the command center to point out the Anglo soldier who had been sneaking out. Mazer was in the command center and knew what Bingwen was doing, so he revealed that Bingwen tricked Chua into bringing him there. Mazer then took Bingwen to a mess hall where Bingwen told him about Imala and Victor's plan. Mazer then called in Wit and they talked about the potential for the plan to turn the tide of the war. Wit and Mazer then set up a conference call with the other MOPs and called Imala and Victor back. While they were waiting on Victor and Imala to respond, Bingwen talked to Mazer about Kim and told him to call her. Their conversation ended when Lem Jukes joined the call and introduced Victor and Imala. Wit then introduced all the MOPs saving Mazer and Bingwen for last. Lem then told the group about the plan to infiltrate the Formic ship. Following the conference call, the MOPs debated about whether or not they should accept Lem's offer. Bingwen was invited to eat dinner in the mess hall that night. At the table Mazer told Bingwen that he had told Major Shenzu about Bingwen, and that Shenzu could arrange for Bingwen to be taken to a military school in northern China if he agreed. Bingwen agreed on the condition that Pipo and Niro be taken to a safe home in northern China, and he asked if Mazer could come with him but knew that was unlikely. Bingwen spent the night in a room with Pipo and Niro and informed them that they would be taken to a safe city in northern China. The next day, Bingwen said bye to the MOPs as Shenzu escorted Bingwen, Pipo, and Niro to their ride. Their military escort was Lieutenant Li, who was also Bingwen's teacher from that point on. Lieutenant Li gave Bingwen a total of 100 demerits at the beginning of the ride for not addressing him correctly. Bingwen was taken to the city of Chenzhou to board a train. On the way to his train, Lieutenant Li forced him to abruptly depart from Pipo and Niro without saying goodbye. Li then asked Bingwen to speak his mind about the abrupt departure before leaving on a single car train. Bingwen and Li later boarded another train. At one point, the train was stopped because bandits had blocked the railroad. The bandits were led by Shihong, who simply wanted food for his village. Li did not like that, but while Li was planning Bingwen tried talking to the bandits from to get them to lay down their arms. Instead Bingwen simply gained their trust, causing Li to invite Shihong and 3 of his other men into a trap and killed them on the train, while other Chinese soldiers killed the other bandits. Bingwen then swore not to be as cold as Li, but a kind soldier like Mazer. The Swarm Three years after the end of the First Formic War, Bingwen, now a lieutenant, was stationed on a military base in China, where he and others learned and trained on how to defend the country if the Formics attacked again. He had been given a squadron of fifty men, handpicked by Captain Li.The Swarm One night, he rode his skim cycle to the abandoned Formic tunnels where one of the landers had been as he had many times before. He made his way into an open chamber that had been outfitted with a holofield, and practiced fighting Formics. Afterward, he connected to the Nets and browsed a forum until he found a post by Mazer diagramming an idea for a nanoshield. Bingwen voiced his opinion on which company should manufacture the shield, mentioning Juke Limited and Gungsu Industries. However, his link to the Nets was severed and two men from his squadron entered the tunnels in an attempt to murder him. Bingwen distracted them with the simulated Formics before taking an alternate route back to the surface, heading back to the base. He confronted the rest of the men in his squadron, and gave a short speech before taking them to the brig. He ordered Corporal Mayzu hit him with a cane three times, as he believed he had failed the soldiers. On the third strike, Bingwen passed out and woke up in the medical wing with Captain Li, who revealed that China had agreed to give troops to the International Fleet, and he had been ordered to assemble a group of soldiers for training in The Belt. Bingwen was selected, and would go to the Variable Gravity Acclimatization School. Bingwen arrived next to the Bay of Bengal to board the I.F. spacecraft that would take him to the school in the Belt. He and Li discussed whether or not China should have given troops to the International Fleet or not. A woman named Wila boarded the ship and engaged in conversation with Bingwen on the hull material of the Formic scout ship and the Hive Queen theory. After some time, the ship was having difficulty quadrangulating their coordinates, and Li went to talk to the captain. A moment later, Li asked Bingwen to follow him. Bingwen explained to the pilot what was wrong with the calibration and offered to fix the problem for him, but it would require him to monitor the calibrator the rest of the flight. Wila talked to him for several hours until she went to sleep, but Bingwen stayed in the wall of the ship until they arrived in the dock. After arriving at the space station dock, Li and Bingwen transferred to a shuttle to Luna. Before going to sleep, Bingwen realized that Li had damaged the calibrator dish before the flight to test Bingwen, which Li did not deny. On Luna, Mazer Rackham was assigned to Colonel Li's TAGAT unit to help train the children in zero gravity combat. Li introduced Rackham to Bingwen and the other recruits. After Mazer explained his disdain for the use of children in private to the Colonel, Li had Bingwen fight Mazer to prove that the training that Li put his students through was fruitful. After winning the fight against Mazer through some measure of acting, Bingwen talked with Mazer once Li gave the final orders for the evening. Mazer explained his sorrow for the past three years of hell that Bingwen had been through, but Bingwen tried to comfort Mazer by telling him he had learned some beneficial lessons from Li, despite his harsh methods. The next day Bingwen left Luna on a shuttle to board a cargo ship headed for Grav Camp. While in flight, the cargo ship was refitted to train the TAGAT unit in tunnel combat with the Formics. The cadets went through various training exercises that utilized the new Stability Boots and acclimated them to zero-g combat. After training with Chati one day, Bingwen was called into Rear Admiral Zembassi's office with Mazer. The conversation revolved around the Formic asteroids that were thought to be heading for Earth, as it had been realized that none of them were. Mazer and Bingwen convinced Zembassi to attack an asteroid named Castalia instead of the group's original target. After months of traveling to Castalia, the ship finally arrived and the battle room was opened again for the men to train with. The plan of attack on Castalia was organized by Li, but the details were set by Mazer and Bingwen. However, soon after their arrival Colonel Vaganov changed the plans, and Bingwen was to be a part of the squad of soldiers entering the asteroid, along with Mazer, Kaufman, and Rimas. Two days later, the breach team was ready to go. They planned to kill the crew of the Formic Miniship, collect the bioengineered "bugs", and then send in Bingwen once the threat was eliminated. After Mazer and the rest surmised that there were no Formics on the asteroid's surface, Bingwen was sent in by Zembassi's order. After taking Kaufman's supplies, Bingwen entered the asteroid, but he realized that Mazer and Rimas could not fit in the tunnels. Bingwen suggested they give him their supplies and wait out in the shuttle for Bingwen to finish investigating. Mazer did not like the idea, but he knew it was the best course of action. After going further in the tunnels, Bingwen came upon a wide and darkened cavern in the middle of the asteroid, with a metal wall of Hulmat blocking his view. Bingwen came to the realization that the asteroids were being used as factories to make ships by the Formics, not missiles. However, after discussing with Mazer, he realized that the miniship crew of five was not enough to pilot the ships that would be made inside the asteroid. Zembassi ordered Bingwen to investigate further, where he came upon the scene of a Hive Queen daughter-general being birthed. As soon as it came out of the cocoon, it saw Bingwen, and ordered the workers surrounding it to attack him. Bingwen shot the Hive Queen through the eye, breaking her grasp on the workers' minds. After a brain-dead moment, the workers regained consciousness as the main Hive Queen of the invasion took over, and renewed their attack on Bingwen. He pulled out an ignitor that would blow the asteroid's atmosphere and sparked it, destroying the entire asteroid. Bingwen survived, as his suit took the brunt of the blast, but was knocked unconscious. Kaufman, Rimas, and Mazer found him and took him back to the ship. After waking up, he was presented with a cobbled-together trophy from the other men on the ship for taking out the Hive Queen. Each marine got in a line and saluted Bingwen for his courage. Personality Trivia Quotes References Category:Enderverse Category:Characters Category:Characters introduced in Earth Afire